trick or treat

we went around the block tonight to the neighbors that we know. little guy got lots of compliments on how cute he was as a duckie. we took some pictures at the house before and after we went trick or treating.

duckies and punkins

a few months ago, the company i work for acquired a new warehouse space. this weekend, they threw a pig roast and had an open house. costumes were welcome. here's is little guy as a duck.

then we went home and carved punkins. i did the cat/spider, and little guy did the cute monster. daddy did the grim reaper and the creepy face.

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apple pie filling

well - none of the "belly buttons" press in and out. so it seems that my first round of canning was a success.

Michael says they look good - but we'll definitely try baking with them before giving them as gifts.

I think my next project will just be applesauce and I'm also looking forward to making granola in the dehydrator.

canning experiment

Ok - so we went to the fruit farm a few weeks ago. we picked a lot of apples. a lot of apples. basically, our whole fridge was commandeered by apples. so, after doing a bunch of research, i decided i was going to learn how to can - using the boiling water canning method. we got mason jars, ingredients and tools for the job. yesterday, i went for it.

the "apple pie filling" recipe called for 12 cups of peeled, cored, sliced apples. so i did that, then blanched them in boiling water. set them aside and made the goop of sugar, canning starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, apple juice (ironic right?) and water. once that came to a boil (stirring constantly with jr, hazel and ginger chasing in and out of the kitchen) i folded in the apples, heated them through and removed it from heat. i used my special canning funnel and scooped the apples and goop into 6 jars. got the lids and rings on - fingertip tight - and got them ready for their bath.

i was able to do 3 jars at a time in my stock pot. so, for 25 minutes a group i waited for the happy stuff to be done. i pulled them out of their bath, and set them on the stovetop to finish the sealing process. hopefully tonight none of their "belly buttons" press in or out. it was too dark in the kitchen to take effective pictures last night, and i couldn't find my "real" camera, so i'll have to post pictures later. BUT moral of the story is - i'm calling this a success, and i'm ready to keep doing this in the future. well, not to far into the future since there are still tons of apples...not sure if i mentioned that.

happy teeth

some of you may know that I've never had a cavity (and don't intend to anytime soon). i have fond memories of going to the dentist when i was really little when my mom would go - before i started having regular checkups. when it came time for me to start seeing the dentist, i was already familiar with him and familiar with the noises, so it wasn't so freaky and scary as most people make it out to be. (i actually really LOVE going to the dentist) the super clean, polished feeling is so fantastic. so yesterday i took jr with me to my checkup. it was at 8am...but really my appointment was for november 2nd...luckily one of the hygenists had an opening so i didn't waste a trip. jr was SO good. he sat on my lap the whole time and was really interested when mr. thirsty was doing his job (the white spit sucker thing - that's what my dentist used to call it when i was little). he also thought my safety glasses were pretty neat. when i gave them to him to play with he put them on his face - then on his head. i was disappointed that the dentist wasn't in yet, so jr couldn't have him look in his mouth, but that's ok. next time. all in all it was a very successful trip and i look forward to taking him with me many more times.

number 3

October 18, 2008 - Three years ago we said I DO! Here's a stroll down memory lane.

too little

yesterday for church, daddy put a little bit of gel in jr's hair - it really didn't change the way his hair looked. at first I thought it was cute. then I caught a whiff, and the rest of the it had me thinking - he's too little! he can't be big enough for that yet!

so sitting in bed last night while jr was drinking his bedtime sippy of milk and falling asleep, I told daddy with tears in my eyes that I wasn't ready for him to have gel in his hair. he's too little I said. he's getting too big too fast I said. and cried a few more tears. sigh. he's not going to be too little much longer.

a matter of time

not only does jr take the remote and wave it at the tv - cuz that's what we do right?

he's fascinated with the VCR door - yes, we have a VCR. just last night he was trying to put things in. I figure it's only a matter of time until we find a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in there.

he's also discovered the on/off button on the dvr box - much to daddy's chagrin. it's seems he knows just when the good parts of any tv show (especially football) will be on and turns it off just then.

tonight he found the eject button on the wii. that was a pretty cool find.

I just love watching him discover.

tractor

we had jr's 12 month pictures at the pumpkin farm out in Ixonia at Ebert's Greenhouse Village. yes - I'm aware that he's 13 months. oh well. it was a little chilly and windy, but I think we got some good pics overall.
here's the little guy driving a tractor.

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jumping jellyfish!

well really - jumping salmon. this falls is about a 3/4 mile walk from my office. so it's one of the routes we take during our walks during the lunch break. we watched a few fishies try to get upstream - unsuccessfully, but we enjoyed cheering them on.

cyber friends

it was a pleasant surprise when some friends came in to church this morning. Meghan used to love here and got married and moved to VA. she has a little girl, Audrey. she also has a little boy, Isaac, who is 2 days older than August. we tried to get a picture, but Isaac wasn't very keen on the idea since he was ready for a nap.

we were very glad to see them!

crunchy leaves

he wasn't quite sure what to make of the leaves. he started out very cautiously.

had to get some pics with mom and dad - the lighting wasn't very cooperative.

go brewers!

what Saturday's are made of

we are enjoying beautiful weather today, so we started the day off with a 3 mile walk around town. after a few years of living here, we finally visited the local farmers market. it was awesome. we'll have to check it out again.

rock the green

back during the summer I won Rock the Green concert tickets from one of our local radio stations. the concert was on 9/18 at veterans park on the lakefront in Milwaukee. it was a little chilly and windy, but we had a great time.

the little guy was a fan of corn on the cob - however, he didn't want to eat the corn off the cob, he was much more content picking individual kernels off to eat.

Picture Finalist

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August was selected as a finalist in a Funny Baby Picture contest. Voting ends 10/14. you'll see him on the left hand side of the page in the Poll of the Week column listed under Angela C.